[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs

[Marian Griffith]

On Tue 24 Aug, Koster, Raph wrote:
> Don't know where the subject line went on this one...

> > From: Marian Griffith [mailto:gryphon at iaehv.nl]

> > But only if you have a lot of players. For a game like UO it 
> > is possible
> > to have players run  the entire economy.  For smaller games  
> > there is no
> > choice but simulate the economy and have players fit in somehow.

> Depends how small, and in what manner they affect the economy. I could see a
> smaller game having a player-run economy quite easily, but you'd have to
> provide enough facilities for it. What if there were no shops in the game at
> all, so that players were forced to trade with one another? If the game was
> compelling enough to make people stay despite that difficulty, and if there
> were good facilities to allow trading when only one of the two parties was
> online (like delayed auction systems, or hireling-run shops or something)
> then a player-run economy could develop without too much trouble even in a
> small game.

You are right, though I would hesitate to equate economy with a system
of more or less automated shops. On a game the size of UO you can have
things arranged so  that there are no weapons  unless somebody creates
them, no houses unless somebody actually gathers the resources to make
them, and so on.
The current crowd of players would possibly not like that, conditioned
as they are to go out and kill things.  It would however make the game
more balanced with respect to the variety of goals players can set for
themselves. Being a craftsman becomes a viable job (and if you are the
only weaponsmith on-line you are going to be popular).

> You would still need a certain critical mass, of course. But players trade
> given the slightest provocation (notice the popularity of dedicated
> "auction" channels).

> > > This same issue arises with in-game justice systems. A lot of people
> > > fail to make the distinction between a system where admins 
> > > attempt to
> > > make the game detect good and bad behavior and punish players vs. a
> > > system where players make those decisions and simply have tools with
> > > which to deal with each other. [snip]

> > There is a fundamental similarity as well:  both systems fail 
> > with sufficiently motivated troublemakers (and sooner or later you 
> > are going to encounter one of those).

> ALL systems fail with sufficiently motivated troublemakers. :)

True, but a system where might makes right is much more open to abuse.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey




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